MCA ANNOUNCES REOPENING

The MCA last week announced the much-anticipated reopening of the Circular Quay space, complete with some $53 million worth of renovations and extensions. The new and improved gallery will open in March next year, seeing an increase in area by almost 50%. The new space will kick off with MCA Curator Glenn Barkley’s Collection Volume 1, which will present a narrative of Australian art over two floors. The show promises works from the MCA collection, as well as new acquisitions, featuring both well-known and emerging artists in many mediums.

Opening concurrently is MCA Senior Curator Rachel Kent’s Marking Time, an international show exploring the ways in which artists explore time and its passing. The new space includes a number of notable additions, including a state-of-the-art education centre, the National Centre for Creative Learning, new dedicated artists galleries, a lecture theatre, and a rooftop cafe and sculpture garden reminiscent of the famous gardens at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. To top off all these extensions, the museum has announced four new commissions from Australian artists, two of which will change annually. From the brief glimpse offered last week, the new space looks to be set to put Sydney’s contemporary art spaces on the world map, and should certainly see the local arts world abuzz for many months to come.